The present invention relates to cable modem termination system (CMTS) software. Cable operators and multi-service operators (MSOs) who deploy and maintain cable modems at subscriber residences and businesses rely on the cable modem's Media Access Control (MAC) address or other hardware address to perform important functions. However, in version 6 of the Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCPv6), there was a deliberate design decision to not include a field for a MAC address. In DHCPv4 and Internet Protocol version 4 (IPv4), the MAC address was stored in a “chaddr” (client hardware address) field. MSOs and other entities continue to want to utilize MAC addresses for various tasks, such as error handling, debugging, interface bundling, lease query, and others.
However, MSOs do not want to impose changes in hardware in the cable modems they deploy or, moreover, in the customer premise equipment (CPE), such as PCs, televisions, and the like, that operate behind the cable modem. Such devices operate outside of Data-Over-Cable Service Interface Specifications (DOCSIS) 3.0 and RFIs describing the new protocols. Nor do MSOs want to force changes to the DHCPv6 server which provides IP addresses to the modems and CPEs. Further, DHCPv6 server behavior is not covered by DOCSIS 3.0 standards. However, with the advent of DHCPv6 and IPv6, alternatives to the utilization of MAC addresses of the cable modem and the CPE are inefficient with respect to memory and processing time.